Thomas nesom



- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

TIIOMAS NESOM, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO TIMOTHY L. BOSART, OF SAME PLACE.

FIFTH-WHEEL FOR VEHICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 554,345, dated February 11, 1896.

Application filed August 26, 1895. Serial No. 560,544. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS NESOM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fifth-Wheels for Vehicles, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my said invention is to hold the members of a fifth-wheel continuously into contact, so that there shall be no lost motion between them, with the attendant rattling. Said invention will be first fully described, and the novel features thereof then pointed out in the claim.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which are made a part hereof, and on which similar letters of reference indicate similar parts, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a fragment of a vehicle-axle with its bolster and fragments of a double reach, the parts having a fifth-wheel attached thereto provided with my present invention; Fig. 2, a similar view, except that the reach is a single reach; Fig. 3, a sectional view as seen when looking in the direction indicated by the arrows from the dotted line 3 3 in Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 a similar view as seen when looking in the direction indicated by the arrows from the dotted line 4 4 in Fig. 2.

In said drawings the portions marked A represent the axle of the vehicle; B, the bolster;

O, the reach; D and E, the two fifth-wheel parts; F, the coupling-bolt, and G the spring, which latter is the leading feature of my present invention. All these parts, except the spring and the mounting therefor, are or may be of any ordinary or desired character, and, therefore, will not be further described herein, except incidentally in describing the invention.

Upon the reach 0 are the usual couplingirons O, and these, in the form shown in Figs. 1 and 3, are provided with seats or recesses in their upper surfaces (just below the point where the fifth-wheel part D passes above) to receive the spring G. In the form shown in Figs. 2 and 4'. wings c are preferably formed on the iron O containing similar seats or recesses. The spring G is seated in these recesses at its ends, and its central portion bows up and bears against the under side of the fifth-wheel part D. The result is, of course, to force said fifth-whee1 part D closely into contact with the fifth-wheel part E and to prevent any looseness or rattling between the two parts.

Obviously, the spring G might be bowed in the other direction with its center bearing on the iron C and its ends bearing 011 the under side of the fifth-wheel part D, which would be a mere reversal of parts and consequently no departure from my invention. Other modifications of attachments for the spring will readily suggest themselves.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination, in a vehicle, of the frame parts including the reach, the reach-irons having sockets in the upper face, the fifth-wheel passing near to said reach-irons and over said sockets, and the spring Gr seated in said sockets and bearing against the surface of the ad jacent fifth-wheel part, substantially as set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 22d day of August, A. D. 1895.

' THOMAS NESOM. [L. s] lVitnesses CHESTER BRADFORD, JAMES A. WALSH. 

